Sciatica in Hillsborough is literally a pain in the rear. If you’ve ever experienced it, you know it can be debilitating due to the lightening-like pain that radiates from the back and goes down one or both legs. It’s one of the top conditions that chiropractors are known successfully to treat. Here’s why; I often say to my patients that sciatica is a “structural” problem. In other words, something is pinching or compressing the sciatic nerve (the largest nerve in the body) to cause a problem. If we find out what the cause of the problem is, often times we can correct it.

A lot of patients come into Living Well 4 Life Center in Hillsborough after seeing other medical doctors, and after a round of painkillers, muscle relaxants and/or steroid injections. Some are recommended for surgery, but according to the most prestigious medical journal on the back called “Spine”, back surgery has a 74% failure rate.

The reason for this is that there is NO chemical or surgical solution to a purely structural problem. Chiropractic is about structure, functional alignment issues in the spine; and back problems, especially sciatica are cause by structural, functional and alignment issues of the spine.

Top 3 Causes of Sciatica

1. Disc Herniation or Degeneration: When the “jelly like” shock absorbers between the vertebrae bulge or herniate often times they compress nerves of the spine
2. Subluxation and Lack of Vertebral Motion: When vertebras misalign, they stop moving and this lack of motion cause the disc to fail over time causing them to bulge or herniate
3. Arthritis or Osteophytes: After a long period of subluxation and lack of motion, bone spurs (osteophytes) start to form at those spinal levels and these can compress the delicate nerves of the lumbar spine

 Top 3 Solutions for Sciatica

1. Decompression: Spinal decompression is aimed at opening up and separating the disc spaces to take the pressure off of the sciatic nerve. It is a series of treatment, but can be very effective for acute sciatica
2. Spinal Decompression Exercises: McKenzie exercises are the gold standard for sciatica. The goal of the McKenzie method is to centralize the pain or move the pain from the leg into the low back by decompressing the discs spaces through specific exercises.
3. Chiropractic Adjustments: The goal of chiropractic adjustments is to move the bone (vertebrae) off of the sciatic nerve, create motion and alignment, which allow the disc and nerve to heal.

At Living Well 4 Life Center in Hillsborough, we’ve been helping patients with sciatica for decades. Remember, we teach people, Chiropractic FIRST, medication second, surgery last. There is no chemical or surgical solution to a structural problem. Pain medication can be severely addicting and we know that surgery fails most of the time and simply doesn’t work. If you know someone who has sciatica, do them a huge favor and refer them to our office or a chiropractor in their home town. It may save their quality of life for years to come.